Was looking for advice on how to go about this. I know I need to fill up the holes and dings, but with what? Also, the guitar has a shiny glossy finish on it, should I sand the whole thing down before the crack filling? How do I get the logo and serial number back on the guitar after I am finished? Or should I just take it to a service and have them do it? (I dont really wanna spend the money on that)

I usually fix body damage with either Bondo Putty or Super Glue using baking soda as an accelerator. And with the glossy finish, you can usually sand with 320, don't go down to the wood unless you want to seal the wood again. With my projects I just scuff the outside so the primer will adhere properly. Both of those methods sand down pretty well, but for the other problems I couldn't really help you.

The guitar should be completely stripped back down to the sanding sealer before you attempt to refinish it. Do not try to paint over the existing finish, or even just the existing primer. Go right back down to the wood, sand it, seal it, prime and do the whole thing. Trying to save time will just result in a poor finish.

Do not try to sand the finish off, because it will only come out uneven and it will take you a very, very long time. Use a chemical stripper and leave it a few hours (the best strippers tend to need to be left for between 8 and 24 hours). You may even need to go twice over it with stripper then finish off with light sanding; the finish on guitars like that is very thick.

As for filling damage, if it's damage to the actual wood then you should use a proper wood filler/epoxy. Get to your local DIY store, they'll have tons of types and can point you int he right direction. If the damage is in the finish then ignore it because you'll be taking all that off anyway.

As for the decals like the logo and serial, you can't. Once you take that stuff off it will be gone for good; faking serial numbers make the guitar an illegal representation and adding waterslide decals is dodgy business which is thoroughly frown upon. Either leave the headstock as it is or strip it all back and live with it having nothing there. You could, of course, have your own custom waterslide decal madeónobody will complain about thatóbut you can't go getting official brand ones.

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Depending on the finish you may have a hell of a time getting it off the guitar. I'll agree with Fibbs on using a chemical stripper, sanding a finish off by hand takes a long time and it's nearly impossible to keep a level surface doing so. You may have to try a few different strippers though, there isn't a "one covers all finishes" variety out there. If it's a poly (I think it's poly you need to do this with) finish you may have to resort to removing it with a heat gun.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrFlibble

faking serial numbers make the guitar an illegal representation and adding waterslide decals is dodgy business which is thoroughly frown upon. Either leave the headstock as it is or strip it all back and live with it having nothing there. You could, of course, have your own custom waterslide decal madeónobody will complain about thatóbut you can't go getting official brand ones.

Sure you can, you can find headstock decals all over the place. And if you replace the serial with the identical serial number there isn't anything illegal about that. In fact, I bet removing the serial and not replacing it would be more illegal than replacing it with the original serial.

If I was refinishing a Fender Strat and had to take the original logos off, I would definitely replace them with proper decals and serial. It's still a Fender instrument regardless if the decal is intact, replaced, or not present at all.

If I was refinishing a Fender Strat and had to take the original logos off, I would definitely replace them with proper decals and serial. It's still a Fender instrument regardless if the decal is intact, replaced, or not present at all.

+1. You can easily find them around the place.

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